Spider's Web
by feathered-equine
Summary: Daiki Hamasaki is your regular run of the mill Ghoul Investigator, and hunting down ghouls has been his number one priority. But through a seemingly insignificant meeting, he is suddenly thrown into a world he finds out that he knows little about. What string of events take place when he gets a little too close to the side of the hunted?
1. Fates Intertwined

We were called to the Tokyo Grand Hotel, and if it weren't for reason that we had been summoned here for, I might have actually enjoyed the beauty of this place. As the four of us approached the counter, First Class Investigator Uchida told the lady behind the counter our reason for being here, and then she quietly led us to the room. Only speaking to tell us that the maid who found the customer screamed bloody murder at the sight, and that she was glad we came so that this circus could draw to a close. After we would be done conducting our business then the rest of the guests on the third floor could resume their business.

Upon arriving at the door, the attendant bowed and then let us into the room. It was a single room, small yet comfortable. There was a small desk; it had an equally small TV, a cream lamp, a nice half round mirror, and across from that was the bed presently holding the reason for our stay. The white sheets were now stained with the vibrancy of red, accompanied with the stench of decomposing flesh. We filed into the room in a line, and I found my place in the room at the foot of the bed.

In the silence that soon enveloped the room, we all could tell who the culprit was. The Black Widow, this ghoul had been named. Aptly so, her methods of acquiring meals were a tad on the, -ahem- sensual side. I had heard mention of her sparsely when I had been delivering coffee to the higher ups; she was as hard to catch as she was dangerous. It wasn't until I had witnessed the scene of one of her meals a year ago that I finally understood how she got the name. Laying face down on the disheveled bed, and partially wrapped in a sheet, was the Black Widow's victim. It was like she paid careful attention to the sequence of actions that it took to reel her prey in, starting from seduction, and ending with having your throat ripped out. I shuddered reluctantly; no matter how many times I followed the trail of the Black Widow, seeing her dead victims was another story.

The man was in his late twenties, dark colored hair, and very noticeably naked. The clothes he had been wearing were strewn across the floor; tell tale sign of what had taken place. Except I was sure that the man wasn't planning on dying, he probably just wanted to pick up a pretty girl and have some fun, and therein lays the problem. One of the lower investigators was checking the man's pockets for identification, we would soon be phoning his family later to alert them to his death. Not the most fun part of the job, who the hell was I kidding? This job was far from fun.

Walking back around to the side of the bed, I knelt down to get a closer look. Along his neck there were multiple lacerations of varying sizes, predominately on the front. A good chunk was also taken right from where the area that his larynx was, and effectively ripping a good portion of his trachea. Compared to the other marks on his neck, the blow to his larynx appeared to be a newer wound. From his chest down to his mid section were countless scratch and bite marks, although relatively free of wounds to the degree of the one on his neck. His arms were virtually untouched. The Black Widow didn't particularly like feasting on the core of her prey; rather, she took to dealing a single deathblow, and then she moved onto an area where there was a good amount of meat, usually the thighs. I quietly lifted the sheet, and looked towards the victim's lower half. As I figured, he was missing a fair deal of flesh on his legs, practically going down to the bone on one of them.

It seemed inhuman, you know, to meet ones end in this fashion. Well, really, no one wants to die. Despite how we treated the ghouls, humans were capable of the same type of atrocities, with or without cannibalism. It was just that the ghouls received majority of the attention, and in order to find the ghouls responsible for these deaths, one needed a certain kind of scrutiny and a good deal of hostility on the side. Our victim seemed to be fairly rich, going by the clothes he had, nor was he the first rich person to be killed by the Black Widow. Maybe she had a thing for people with money.

Honestly speaking, if there were anything that would keep me going with this job, would be the promise that justice would be served against the monsters. Or at least, that's what I'd like to think. In comparison to the other investigators, I don't necessarily hate ghouls, per se, they're truly fascinating creatures… with unfortunate dietary needs. It is well known that the CCG often takes in individuals who loathe ghouls with a fiery passion, usually holding some grudge against them, and harvests their anger to train those few in the ways of ghoul elimination. A long and arduous journey, that was met most often with the death of investigators, especially if they didn't have their wits about them. Occasionally we would end up killing a ghoul or two, but they were generally stronger than the rookies and definitely more than just one could handle.

A sigh escaped my mouth as I scratched my head, the numbers of ghoul victims were on the rise now too. We of the CCG would put a stop to it, no, we had to stop it. This was unacceptable, I reasoned, surely ghouls could live without having to kill anyone, but deep in my heart I knew that was not the case. They ate humans because that was the only thing that they could eat, anything else would harm them, I knew this, I had done my research. It sounded sad; it probably felt akin to only being able to eat brussel sprouts. No, that was a wrong analogy to use, some people actually like eating them. Ok, it was like needing oxygen to breathe, it was a necessary component of life.

One thing didn't add up though, and this was what truly bothered me. She would normally kill someone every two weeks, give or take, but this was her third killing this week. Her behavior was highly unusual, and it made my stomach churn, was there something that made her want to kill more? Was her territory being threatened? Or was she just hungrier than normal? Because as they say, the best way to catch your target was to think like them, but I could only make small assumptions to theorize her thought processes. Ghouls were highly territorial, like most animal types. Protecting their territory often resulted in fighting, or in this case, more death. Most of the time I didn't know if I was right or not, either way, I was starting to read her movements better. I brought my wrist into my vision so that I could see what time it was, 4:20am. God, I needed sleep.

"Rank 2 Investigator, Daiki Hamasaki."

My head shot up, "Yes, sir?"

"What do you think is the cause of this, seeing as the Black Widow was assigned to your squad. Do you have any leads as to who it might be?"

I mentally rolled my eyes at his question, the ghouls often wore a mask for crying out loud, and they hunted like a damn tiger. They were as elusive as one too, so actually catching them was hard enough as it was. The higher ups expected nothing less than perfection when it came to ghouls, and as much as I understood that, I wasn't about to go question every possible prostitute on the street, it would feel weird.

"The Black Widow is an S rated ghoul, I don't she'd slip up. At least not yet." Giving myself the benefit of the doubt, "I believe that the Binge Eater might have a part in this." Not directly, mind you, but she killed wherever and whenever she felt like it. Her killing was so erratic, that it was near impossible to pinpoint where she would actually be. The one thing those two had in common was who their main targets were. Women ghouls are scary, sheesh.

The First Class Investigator regarded my words with little thought; he nodded slightly while contemplating the timing of all of this. We all knew that the Binge Eater was in Tokyo; it only stood to reason that another ghoul might feel threatened when facing a random ghoul who didn't care for territory boundaries. The Investigator didn't seem thrilled with my notion of the two ghouls having related incidents. But I was speaking my mind, and he knew it. If there was one thing that I could be counted on to do was make my thoughts known to the general public, ok so maybe not all of them but the Investigators knew his stance on ghouls, and while they were radical ideas compared to the ruthless Investigators, he was almost like the black sheep in the fold. Almost.

"Well," Investigator Uchida sighed, "I think we got all we can for now, let's head back to headquarters and figure out our next plan of action. This ghoul is getting more dangerous as the days go on, I would like to see her locked up, or in a body bag. Whichever one comes first."

I gulped, death never sat well with me, no matter who or what it was. I was an Investigator for some sappy, stupid reason, like some other Investigators I knew. Otherwise everyone else had a clear goal in mind, and that was where I faltered. After Investigator Uchida's declaration I wrote down what information I could as he soon took the lead and walked out of the room, the rest of us filed out behind him. Someone would come by to pick up the body later.

The Black Widow was hard ghoul to catch, she only eats men in this fashion every once and a while, but aside from that she's completely off radar. The most we could do right now was see if we could find any leads, if not we would continue searching for however long it would take. Honestly, there were more dangerous ghouls lurking about, but this particular one was unfortunately assigned to our measly squad, and we wouldn't stop until we found it. Apparently there was a big party here over the weekend, full of rich well off people, with nothing better to do than have fun. The room we were in was under the name of our victim, and with all of the other people roaming throughout the halls, it was hard to find out who exactly killed him. Ghouls were crafty, and experts at evasion, especially since they so often wore masks to conceal their identity.

I stole a glance back towards the direction we came from, wondering if that ghoul frequented this place, or if she just felt like eating a higher-class meal at a buffet. Like the Gourmet ghoul for instance. It was common knowledge that that ghoul had a habit of picking and choosing what he wanted to eat, from the sounds of it Gourmet was extremely picky about what he would eat, only choosing the absolute best for himself, while plenty of other ghouls would just eat what they could to survive. Like the upper and lower classes, there was discrepancy amongst them.

My thoughts were abruptly brought to a halt as I bumped into someone, "Oh, I am so sorry ma'am, that was completely my fault." I quickly bowed. Hoping that she wouldn't be too upset.

"I should be the one apologizing, it was my fault for not watching where I was going. Are you alright?" The voice asked.

Looking up, I saw a fair-skinned women, her hair was dark as ebony, and curled towards the bottom where it reached just beyond her shoulders. Eyes as green as jade, and she wore business attire, probably here for the conference. She gave off an apologetic smile and shifted to the side. Behind her gentle façade, there was something unnerving about her that I couldn't quite place, but I ignored that feeling.

"Hamasaki, get over here." Investigator Uchida growled.

"Right away, sir." I turned to face the woman again, "Please excuse me." I bowed once more before taking my leave.

Little did I know that this encounter would deal out my fate in spades.


	2. A New Proposition

With a weary hand I turned the knob and walked into my apartment, carelessly tossing my keys onto the countertop. Glancing over towards the clock above my tv, I noted the time, 6:30am, I would have to report back to work in two and a half hours. There were just no breaks with this case at all, and if I had to say it, I needed to find the Black Widow as soon as possible.

The apartment itself was very dark in color, and an absolute mess. There were take-out containers here and there, clothes that needed to be cleaned lying in a not so neat pile, and in short, my apartment conveyed my lack of general responsibility when it came to taking care of my own belongings. Sure, if I had enough extra time on my hands it might be a tad bit cleaner, but I couldn't be bothered to do so with my current work schedule.

After taking my shoes off, I changed into more comfortable clothes, and then plopped onto my bed, my hand quickly finding its place over my eyes as I tried to block the incoming sunlight. I was exhausted. As the head of my squad, I needed to set a good example, even if it meant acting as though I was wide awake around them, when in actuality I was dead-beat tired, and would fall asleep the moment I made it back to my bed. The hours that I slept, as of late were so erratic, since most days I had been awake conducting research. Ok, that last part was my own fault; I did have a terrible habit of researching until the wee hours of the morning, and neglecting my much needed sleep.

When the time came for me to return back to work, I needed to give a status report, as if my lack of catching the criminal wasn't enough, I would have to talk about it. Speaking in front of people wasn't one of my strongest assets, nor was it a favored part of my job. It felt more like a chore really, I would only say the same thing that I have been telling them for the past month, and they in turn would repeat useless information that I already knew. They would remind me of my incompetence, give me a verbal slap on the hand on my way out the door, slipping in the "you can do better than that" shit. A very common approach to their leadership, or at least with the people that I worked under.

Well, I only had a little bit of time to actually sleep, but I decided that if I went to sleep it would be even harder to wake myself up and get to work in a timely fashion. So I went to re-read all of the case files pertaining to the Black Widow.

The moments passed by quickly, and before I knew it I was back at work again.

"How many people has she killed so far, Hamasaki?" Investigator Uchida asked. Of course he knew the answer,

"Three this week, leading up to a total of over twenty targets." I was hitting the ballpark with my response. In actuality, I didn't really know how many she had killed so far; we were just going off of the projected number on the reports. Before I was handed this specific case file, she had already taken the lives of five people, give or take. The thought was, that with an up and coming Investigator, handing the case over to me might prove to be beneficial.

Yeah right.

They all knew that I lacked the drive that most others did, so I think they gave me a gruesome ghoul to deal with in the hopes that I would change my opinion. It hadn't done that so far, and the only reaction it had merited was disgust, and I threw up on my first couple cases dealing with the Black Widow. My colleagues laughed, and said it would get better, but whether they meant that I would eventually grow used to it, or we would get rid of the ghoul wasn't elaborated upon.

While being exposed to certain atrocities could help you get used to something, it also meant that you would get calloused to it, one would be able to look at those things and not even bat an eyelash. Didn't that also mean that while one wouldn't be as grossed out, that they would get too used to it? That was how I felt when it came to the CCG. They hated ghouls, and would gladly put their lives on the line if they could get rid of at least one ghoul in the meantime. But I think they were too used to it, there was only so much you can do with being driven by hate.

Being angry all the time didn't help you with task at hand, nor did it make anyone fun to be around. Then again, maybe this was why they allowed me to come here, because I wasn't tied down by hate, so I was able to think clearly whereas others might not. This, they might have thought, was what would bring the most success. Off the record, I did applaud the ghouls with their ability to be able to go unnoticed in society. None of them would be caught theoretically, unless they messed up.

"You will need to change your methods of pursuit, or else we may never catch her." Investigator Uchida pointed out.

Ah, yes. I knew they could say something like that, when obviously my current ideals of peaceful searching were not going rewarded. All we were able to find were her already dead victims, and she left practically no trail behind at the crime scene. There were no loose ends. Apparently Investigator Uchida would be doing most of the talking, the other Investigators watched on in cold silence, waiting for the chance to speak up, or leave.

"You said in an earlier report, that you think she may be seducing her victims?" One of the men standing against a wall suddenly spoke up. He then walked over to the tables and grinned. With his one squinted and bulging eye, there was no question who the man was. Kureo Mado. Man, this guy gives me the heebie geebies. I remember seeing him for the first time in my recruit days, and he still gave me the uneasy feeling he does now.

"You're right, Mado. Perhaps we can use this information to our advantage." Uchida seemed to contemplate it momentarily, if that, before speaking again. "Maybe if you throw yourself out there to be bait, she might find you. After all, you aren't dreadful to look at."

"Thank you?" I wasn't entirely sure how to take that, it sounded like a compliment, but then it didn't. "How are you supposing I go about doing that, sir?"

"Use your imagination, Hamasaki. You're bound to come up with something."

"Yes, sir."

The higher ups discussed possible avenues in light of this little bit of evidence. Aside from that one question, they asked no more of me.

Out in the halls I paced anxiously, my eyes darted every time something did so much as move. I knew what they were hinting at, I knew what they wanted me to do, but as a matter of pride, it did not bode well for me.

The meeting was short and concise, my squad and I had been rebuked for allowing another tragedy like this to happen, and we needed to step up out game, blah blah blah. You know, the usual uplifting comments that your bosses praise you with to boost your morale. I listened quietly for what seemed like an incredibly long time, answered a few short questions when I needed to, but otherwise it was an uneventful discussion. After being dismissed, we left to go work on finding out some leads. Since figuring out the identity of specific ghouls was as hard a job as any, it often was a delicate process. But before we would hash out details, we would first go get lunch, eating is very important business.

Upon entering the lunch area, I overheard small chatter of a recent accident that killed one person and seriously wounded someone else. Immediately intrigued, I walked over to one of the tables. "Mind if I join you fellows?"

None of them uttered a refusal, so I took a seat near the end of the table. I did my best to stay quiet, pretending to be mulling over the results of the meeting, when I was just listening in. It was easier to do when you were right next to them, rather than being all sneaky about it.

So the boy's name was Ken Kaneki, and the fact that he was still alive was a miracle, even though his life saving surgery had caused a negative reaction from the deceased's family members, or something like. The doctor behind the surgery received harsh criticisms, but in the end what was done, was done and there was nothing that could be done to change the events of the past. We humans likened to believe that we know what's best, and that by simply stating our opinions world peace could be achieved. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Long story short, he had been released and had been said to be recuperating well. I could only hope that was the case.

"In any event," one of the men spoke up, addressing everyone at the table "if there was a ghoul involved in this we need to find out who it is, and fast."

He made a point to stress the last part, as if we somehow weren't on the same wavelength as he. After that, the group quieted down and began talking about other things, like the newest episode on their favorite anime. Whereas I continued eating my meal in peace, and then I headed back off towards where my squad would be. We had decided to meet just outside the front doors.

Upon reaching the doorway I saw all three of them waiting somewhat patiently for me. How nice of them.

"So," I sighed, "they want us to up how we conduct our search."

"Of course they bloody do." Ellis Drake spat. He was an English man, whose family had come over to Japan many, many years ago. He had little respect for those of higher authority, but he still listened to my instruction, which was nice.

"Now, now, they're right. What we're doing right now is not effective." I paused, allowing for the words we all knew were true to sink in. I gazed from Ellis, over to Chikara and Fukashi Kuroyama, brothers who had joined the CCG around the same time. "As such, I think if we split up, it'll be easier to scrounge around for a lead. So the three of you will be together, and because I was given certain specifics that I have to follow, it'll be easier if I move alone."

"That sounds stupid. They invented to buddy system for a reason, ya know." Fukashi so eloquently mentioned.

"Yeah," Chikara agreed. "You should at least take one of us with you, it's nice to have back-up."

After a few short moments of palpable tension I chuckled loudly, my hands braced my hips in an attempt to seem cool. "It's nice to see that you all care for me so much, but seriously, I'll be fine. If something bad happens I'll notify you first thing, alright?"

"Whatever. I'm not your babysitter. That's Ellis's job." Fukashi growled. He had a habit of showing aggression when he tries to hide the fact that he cares, or that's what I've been led to believe.

Chikara on the other hand, was always the quietest compared to his brother. He preferred to watch as things happened and make solid plans from it, than barging in with gnashed teeth and rash movements like his brother. They were almost complete opposites.

"The sooner we do this, the sooner we can catch her, hopefully. So keep a weary eye out, but don't look suspicious, you'll scare people." I joked, much to the grumpy man's dismay. "We'll meet back here around 9pm, got it?"

"Yes, sir." They all said in unison.

After giving them one last nod, I headed off on my own. While I portrayed nothing but the most confidence on the outside, I was a bit mortified. But if With a new purpose in mind, I decided to head out on a recon mission. Originally that was what we were told to do, Uchida made mention that we shouldn't search for leads in groups, albeit less attention drawing, and that it may be more productive on one's own. I beg to differ, because in the case of life threatening situations, it was always nice to have back up.

In the event that I would ever encounter a ghoul in broad daylight was yet to be seen, it wasn't like I could just wander around and ask people straight up if they were one or not. Common sense seems to dictate that the usual response would be denying any relation to ghouls fervently. Not that I could blame them, no one would ever admit to it if they still wanted to live.

I was under the assumption that if the Binge Eater had anything to do with the increase in killing by the Black Widow, that I should be looking around the general area of which they took place. It was only natural to assume that if said Binge Eater had any relevance to the Black Widow's prey count going up, it was worth a shot to go and find out. My superiors had said to "go get em", but the way they wanted me to find my target was a little, shall we say undesired route. I could view it as some sick game, but if there was any chance at being able to beat the Black Widow at her own game, they thought that I should take it.

Technically speaking she was my target, so trying to act like someone look to hook up with a random woman on the streets may or may not prove to be difficult in retrospect.

While mulling over these things, I happened across a café, it looked nice and well kept so I decided to head in and get a coffee, any bit of extra energy would work wonders right now. That, and I just really needed a break.

Upon entering the café, I was greeted with a warm smile from someone behind the counter. They uttered a welcome, and I raised my hand in a friendly gesture to let them know the warm feeling was mutual.

My eyes glanced over the small café; it was just as nice on the inside as it was outside. It felt like it had a very calm atmosphere to it, seemingly filled with people just as calm. Upon noticing an empty seat near a window, I walked over and sat down. Reaching into my coat pocket, I grabbed my notebook; inside it was filled with various entries, from my daily routine all the way down to the less pleasant cases I had worked with.

Occasionally I would write down personal entries about my day, mainly unsent letters to my folks. Both of my parents didn't really care about my job, but as long as I was able to make a living they were fine with it. They tried to be as understanding as they could about it, when I first told my mother; she just about had a heart attack. My father on the other hand, just shrugged and continued smoking his pipe. He was a very uptight person, who withheld most of his internalized feelings. My mother was very vocal, always making sure that everyone knew what she was thinking, never letting anyone else have the last word, she was a riot.

One day the two of them decided to move, and move they did, all the way to France. To this day I still have no idea why.

After I had secured the notebook, I reached back into the pocket to grab my pen. This was the time where I would make cross-references, keep track of witness information, dental appointments, yadda yadda; perhaps I could reflect upon my unusual bad luck as of late. Well, I guess you could say I had mediocre luck, not all of it was bad. Just frustrating.

"I'll be with you in just a moment, sir" The voice of a young woman called to me.

Glancing up, I nodded and said a quick "Thank you," before she went off to one of the other customers. The girl although short in stature, had equally short hair that covered half of her face, a new fad with the youth these days? Anyway, she seemed pleasant enough. The other customer had brought a laptop with her, she probably had the same thought process as I. subconsciously I had begun to stare, and in noticing my infraction, I quickly turned my head back towards my work, I didn't want to seem rude. That would make for a bad first impression.

Even if my head was turned, it did nothing to prevent me from "accidentally" overhearing a one-sided conversation between the employee and the other girl. Apparently they must be close, or else asking the longhaired girl if she had a life would be considered rude. Or perhaps it was still rude regardless; I waited for some sort of rebuttal, any form of indignation at the suggestion that the other girl had nothing better to do. Instead I heard nothing, nothing except the waitress carrying on the conversation. That was weird; maybe the girl was a quiet talker.

But as I continued to listen, I still couldn't hear the girl talk, and then the thought occurred to me, perhaps she couldn't speak. That probably meant the girl was using paper or something to write with to communicate with the waitress.

Their conversation ended shortly thereafter, and then the waitress came back towards me.

"What can I get for you today?" The girl inquired.

"I'll just have a vanilla coffee, miss…?" I drew out the miss, to imply that I would like to know her name.

"Touka."

"Miss Touka, that's a lovely name." I hummed; it was my self-proclaimed duty to hold pleasant conversation between the two of us, besides a good rapport with the staff could perhaps open up different avenues of information. If there was any excessive ghoul activity, the local people should know that better than I ever would.

The girl gave what looked to be a strained smile, gave a quick thanks and went to go prepare my drink. This led me to believe that she wasn't much of a people person, such a shame for one as pretty as her, but I digress, contemplating the social habits of people wouldn't get me anywhere. I had to refocus. My drink was brought to me in record time, and for the next few hours, I thought.

When I had finally finished with my super effective thought bubble that accomplished nothing, it was about dusk when I decided to head back. My current idea was that wherever the Binge Eater was, the Black Widow would be as well. It was something that I had in mind since around yesterday, and it hadn't changed a bit.

As I walked down the sidewalk the muffled sounds of someone in distress reached my ears, and I swiveled around immediately. Sprinting towards the noise, hoping to god that it was just a normal kind of crime, and not one that had to do with villains of the ghoul kind. Some of my superiors might say that I lacked initiative, I could research all day, but when it came right down to engaging ghouls in battle I choked. Now was not the time for such hesitation, not when someone needed my help!

Much to my utter horror, I saw a ghoul attacking some lady in an alley. The attacker looked rather buff, he was dressed semi-nicely and looked to be in a terrible mood. There was no time to call for back up; there was no time to run for help. So I needed to do something, and do it fast.

Throwing all caution to the wind, I charged forward, thrusting all of my weight into his side in an attempt to bowl him over. Although the most that I did was knock him over a few feet, and he landed roughly on a knee.

"Run!" I yelled to the woman as I took a defensive stance between her and the ghoul.

The scared woman took a few seconds to comprehend what I said, before picking up her purse and running like the devil was on her heels. With her out of the way, I could fight more efficiently.

Despite my brief moment of heroism, fear began to creep its way over me and I soon found out that my knees were shaking. How pathetic.

"Who is thisss?" The ghoul sang, and although half of his face was covered, I could see the sick grin that was plastered on his features. He crept closer "A little dove come out to play?"

"Not really, I don't fancy games." I heard myself say, much to my own surprise.

"How sad," Mr. Buff Man released his kagune, "I love games."

I felt myself go stiff when he began walking with more gusto.

In order to best mobilize my movements I slammed a fist against my thigh, forcing my body to come back to its senses. My eyes darted from the ghoul to my possible escape routes. With a quick made plan in my head, I proceeded to run around the ghoul and go farther into the alleyway. If I remembered correctly, there might be a series of them around here, and if I wasn't I would undoubtedly get lost.

While running sounded like a good option in the heat of the moment, the attacker was quickly on my tail, his kagune thrusting into the nearby buildings with a force that broke them. Damn, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that mess.

Before I knew it, the ghoul had jumped above and over me, effectively cutting me off in seconds. With what little time I to react, I jumped through an old window that was to my right. As an afterthought, if I were lucky I could probably lose him in there if the building were big enough.

The room inside was poorly lit, and stunk of mildew. From the contents of the once tranquil room strewn all over the floor, and the ripped curtains, one could assume that no one had been living here for quite some time. Who ever lived here, left in quite a hurry it would seem, and as such didn't care for the belongings they left behind.

Immediately I began to try and retake control over my breathing, it was easier to hide from something when one was quiet. I was without my weapon, ok, not entirely, but it wasn't in an easy to take out position, and I was sorely lacking in any form of back up. If there was any chance that I could live to see another day by hiding, maybe that would deter my pursuer. But as much as I desired to stay hidden it wasn't the thought of being found that sent chills up my spine.

On a futon mere inches away from me, I heard another set of labored breaths. This let me know that I wasn't as alone as originally thought, and I seriously doubted whomever it was was hiding. After grimacing, I decided to see what else was in here with me. My eyes shifted wearily to my right, and it slowly occurred to me, that whilst escaping from being hunted by one ghoul, I had, um, accidentally thrust myself almost literally into the hands of another.

The ghoul's face was softly illuminated by the crimson color of her kagune; her otherwise flawless skin had the stains of blood.

"Oh shi-" I began to curse, but was cut off by one of the extensions of her kagune rushing to my lips to silence me.

"Shhh," the ghoul cooed bringing a finger to her bloodied lips. Her vermillion eyes looked me over, inspecting the prize that had found it's way to her.

Needless to say stumbling across this ghoul was completely unintentional, the real trap had obviously been laid out for the poor sap she was consuming. Suddenly, there was a hoarse growl coming from the window I had just jumped through, and there would be my pursuer, who looked rather annoyed that someone else was already on site. Rather than coming in, he waited quietly outside, almost as if waiting for permission to retrieve his prize.

The female ghoul switched her attentions towards the other intruder, her eyes dancing with an anger that she did not have seconds ago, and she turned to face the other predator. Her kagune extended to their full length, before slowly being brought back towards her lithe body. Adopting a bored expression, she placed a hand nonchalantly beneath her chin.

"What, pray tell, do you think you're doing?" She asked innocently.

The other ghoul remained silent, his eyes widened with the sudden realization of whom his was facing now that she was completely within his view. He couldn't hide his apprehension, nor the hunger in his eyes.

"Leaving?" She suggested, this time driving the tips of her kagune into the windowpane. More than likely her actions were a display of some sort of dominance, or an odd possession. Her now silhouetted form looked as though she had eight appendages, each one poised and ready to attack if it became necessary. Which proved to be unnecessary, but the intention was still there.

It was only then that it became apparent, from gazing upon her, to finally being able to see her victim, that there was only one possible explanation as to whom stood before me. My own eyes widened as I had come to realize that she was not just some random ghoul I happened across, she was in fact, the Black Widow. And I, the dove, flew right into her web. My luck today was awful, the hell?

I swallowed hard, suddenly wondering if this was the time where they would fight over who got to have the pleasure of killing me. Despite my own fascination with this turn of events, I couldn't help but feel a little afraid as I was now going to have to deal with two ghouls instead of just one. At this moment I felt like a steak being held in front of two feral dogs. The end result would be disastrous, and I would be dead. But as I continued to watch the confrontation in front of me, I noticed that there was going to be no dispute over that. The Black Widow spoke lowly, softly, sounding as if she were reprimanding a child. But beneath her words lay a hidden threat.

There was no need for more words, no more signs of aggression, there only remained an eerie calm as the other ghoul ran off. He had no more interest in making a meal out of me, but then that still left the SS ghoul, and I was all alone. Dead gentleman not included.

With a chuckle, the Black Widow turned to face me again, for the moment, she completely ignored the carcass she had been hovering over mere seconds ago. She sauntered over to me, swinging her hips side to side with each step. I had tried to scramble to my feet in a vain pathetic attempt to escape as it was halted as she jumped and landed with her feet on the outside of my thighs. There were only two possible conclusions, I would either die right here and now, or on the very slim chance she felt merciful, I could walk away from this.

Because of the lighting I couldn't really see her all that well, but the moonlight did well to illuminate her body. It was at that moment, that I noticed she wasn't wearing any clothes, well except for her undergarments. I could feel my face heat up from embarrassment, and I heard her laugh at my discomfort when my eyes darted away from her to focus on anything but her body. Did she always kill her victims like this? Talk about a way to go. Then again, I think I already knew that this might have been one of her methods, but when being faced with it, it was rather peculiar.

If it weren't for the fact that I was in such a precarious position, I might have thought that her form was beautiful. No! Bad, bad Daiki, I mentally slapped myself. What the hell are you thinking? You could die, or worse get fired for that very train of thought. Actually, wait a minute, death sounds much worse right now. "U-uh, if you don't mind can I-" I stammered, trying to adjust myself under her scrutinizing gaze.

Her face drew extremely close to mine, past the point of just plain awkward. I could just about feel her lips on the side of my head.

"I do mind, in fact." She whispered. She drew closer to me, her hair tickling my nose as she brought her head beside mine, "What's a dove like you doing here?"

Her hot breath fluttered around my ear as if performing some intricate dance, her thin fingers also toying with my tie. She had effectively scared off the other ghoul, and now she got to play with a new human that practically presented itself to her with no strings attached. Great. What was it that some used to say, that when you don't go looking for something it'll find you? I didn't know whether to feel grateful for that or not. It's kind of hard to try to explain to a ghoul that you mean them no immediate harm, especially if you work for the CCG of all things.

Not that a ghoul should have any reason to believe me in the first place. To the larger part of society, ghouls were considered evil and people wanted nothing more than to be rid of them. In my opinion, people just wanted something other than themselves to blame for the decline of society as a whole. That was just the way that life worked, and it was wrong.

"But I do believe I had enough to eat tonight, killing you now would be such a waste. I'd hate to ruin your hair, it's so fine."

She then withdrew herself from my side, and then walked back over to the futon. There on the stained fabric lay her mask, she reached down to pick it up, and placed it back upon her head. Placing her clothes back onto her body seemed to be an afterthought. She seemed content to slowly put the fabric back over her skin, taking her precious sweet time, too.

"I'll see you later little birdy," she blew an exaggerated kiss in my direction.

And just like that, she was gone.

I shuddered. Was that a threat, or a promise?

* * *

And here's chapter 2! With a special guest appearance by Toki from Ode to Sleep written by Calloniel, which I totally recommend reading if you haven't done so yet. Anyway thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the new chapter!


	3. Game Plan

Thank you dear reviewer for pointing out that I hadn't talked about Daiki's Quinque, I had thought I mentioned it before, but apparently it was only on little drabbles not related to any chapter at all, haha. Hopefully this remedies it, if only just a little bit.

Now on with the story!

* * *

In the weeks that followed my less than grand one on one meeting with the Black Widow, all of her attacks dwindled down to nothing. There had been no signs of any recent movement on her part, and she was just being unusually quiet. This fact alone struck me as odd, normally she would at least kill one person during the week, but for this past while she was silent. For some strange reason, that worried me. Should I be glad that she hasn't claimed any more victims, or should I be sad in knowing that without any leads we wouldn't come any closer to catching her.

We of the CCG are supposed to report everything in regards to our cases, and yet here I was, not telling a single soul about my surprise meeting with the female ghoul. If I did, they would chastise me until I was six feet under. My squad would then make fun of me, and I would never hear the end of it. If I continued to not report this information and pretend I came out with nothing, they might even consider pulling me off the case. I have no doubt that the very thought may be in their heads right now. Either way, it was a lose-lose situation.

In my mind I wondered what would have happened if she didn't decide to let me go, perhaps I could have wound up dead and no one would find me for weeks. Running the scenario over and over again didn't present any other possibilities outside of the one-way trip to not so living land. But obviously I was still alive, and so I had to be thankful the most she decided to do was blow a kiss at me.

* * *

After she left, I was frozen for a good ten minutes, double-checking to make sure that I was still alive, a few pinches later I came to the conclusion that, yes, I was not dead and surprisingly not injured.

This only fueled my thoughts of ghouls not being as bloodthirsty and violent as they're made out to be, I could have easily been killed yet I still lived. Although I did have to remember that one of the two was hunting me, and the other was a notorious killer who preyed specifically on men. Then I turned my eyes towards the new corpse that was the only other occupant in the room. This man was not so lucky, and made me wonder why it was that I survived, it would have been easier for the Black Widow if I was taken out of the picture.

Then I proceeded to piece together a foolproof plan in that I would pretend I had stumbled across a corpse whilst pursuing a suspicious subject down an uninhabited alleyway, and then I phoned for back up. Yeah, nothing sounded weird from that description at all. I had made sure to mention that I heard a cry for help and then pursued the subject, throw in some filler words, and then I said that coming across the fresh corpse was completely coincidental.

"Daiki!" Ellis yelled down the alley. He appeared out of breath as he rushed to where I was standing just outside the window I jumped through.

By this time, the CCG and the rest of my squad showed up with relative speed.

"You look worn out, Ellis, 'you run all the way here?" I quipped, a satisfied grin gracing my tired visage.

"That's not important." He wheezed.

"That's exactly what he did." Fukashi and Chikara spoke in unison, a tone of half embarrassment floating with their words.

"What did you expect him to do after receiving your text? You almost died." Fukashi spat.

"But I didn't, mind you, I'm still very much alive." Man, it felt good to say those words. There was nothing like almost dying that gave you a fresh look at life itself.

Fukashi rolled his eyes at me with much exaggeration; he was younger than me by two years yet for some reason he felt like he had the most experience and could speak from it. I sheepishly chuckled and scratched my head, there was no pleasing this guy, was there?

"Yes, Daiki." This time it was Chikara who spoke up, "But it doesn't wipe away the fact that you almost did. Please be more careful."

"Also, why did you not bring your Quinque? You bloody idiot, that only made it all the more dangerous!" To drive his comment home, Ellis thought it more effective if he hit me in the gut.

I bent over, taking in harsh breaths as I shooed his fist away. "Point taken."

"Do you even think? I'm starting to wonder why it is that you're the squad leader and not me." Ellis pinched the bridge of his nose. "Next time, bring your Quinque. No excuses."

"Yes, mother." I groaned out sarcastically.

"That aside," Ellis walked to the window, "What the hell happened here?"

"That, is an excellent question." I moved to look inside the building just as Ellis was doing. Crossing my arms I gazed at the corpse, within seconds, each member of my squad knew what happened here. There was blatant evidence of the Black Widow being here, and there could be no denying that I would be very dead if she were here at the same time I was.

With a loud huff, Fukashi walked to the back door and opened it, allowing himself to walk in freely. It was at that moment, I noticed there was a slight hole in my plan. Because I so innocently wandered on her feeding time, she got distracted and didn't finish the man off to the normal amount that she would any regular day. My teammates would pick up on this; they had seen enough of her victims to know the difference.

Chikara followed closely behind his brother, and bent down to take a closer look at the victim while Fukashi turned on a light in the room.

"This makes no sense, you said she was gone by the time you got here, right?" Chikara asked. His confusion was very evident on his face; he then looked to me for clarification.

Here we go.

"Yes, she was gone." I blandly replied.

"Then why did she leave before she was finished? She generally eats more than this."

I shrugged my shoulders, attempting to look just as confused as he. So I walked into the room and started to pretend to investigate. It was at that moment a wave of anxiety began to crawl over me, my fingers began to tingle as my mind searched for a good enough excuse to put on the table.

"Maybe something scared her off." I half-heartedly suggested.

"Yeah right, she doesn't shy away from much. And besides, if something did scare her off, it had to be at least the devil." Fukashi chimed in once more. No doubt he was hoping with his verbal addition, I would magically be able to piece together what all of this meant.

"Is there something you're not telling us, Daiki?" Ellis half demanded, half asked. His words spoken with an edge of tension that could almost be felt, he was getting angrier by the second.

As I thought, these kids were too smart for their own good. All of their gazes rested on me waiting eagerly for an answer, and I was certain that if they didn't get the response they desired, more than likely I would end up walking home with a black eye. Courtesy of Fukashi, no doubt.

"Daiki," Fukashi walked dangerously close to me, his eyes livid. "Tell us, damn it." He growled.

"Now's not the time for us to argue, we need to work on locating and notifying his family first." I asserted, quickly ending any further conversation on the matter.

Right now we were under too much scrutiny by nearby CCG Investigators for me to go into detail and actually tell them what happened. Perhaps I could tell them later on, but definitely not right now this wasn't the right time for that. With that being said, I would have to do it outside of headquarters too, can't have any unwanted ears listening in on conversations they shouldn't hear.

It took a little bit, but they finally agreed that it could wait seeing as how they wouldn't get any more from me. There was a lot that still needed to be done, so working on the fine-tuned details and then focusing on the larger picture would serve us better.

We proceeded to contact the victim's family, they were shocked to hear the news, speaking of how he would never wander into this kind of neighborhood at night, that he was better than this. It may have been insensitive of me, but thoughts like that wouldn't erase the fact that he was dead. He was here, and there was no denying on my part that he was seduced into walking right to his death.

Shortly after we concluded our business. A sigh escaping my lips as I pulled the latex gloves off of my hands, careful not to accidentally touch the blood on the outside. As I reflected upon the current situation, aside from my case ghoul activity was beginning to rise. That alone told me that the trouble with the ghouls would get a lot worse before it got any better.

"Alright, for now I'm going to head home and rest. I'll brief you some more on the case tomorrow," I surveyed my squad, "You can count on that." I finished, more for Fukashi's benefit who seemed more interested in what he thought I was clearly hiding. "See ya." My hand waving at them with all the enthusiasm my sore muscles could muster.

Now I could leave the scene behind me, the encounter was firmly planted in my mind and it gave no room to maneuver away from it. While it was my job to find the Black Widow, not so deep in my thought process as one would suspect, I really wasn't in the mood to meet her again. From her words it sounded like she had claimed me or something, and that felt absolutely horrible. Subconsciously I shuddered, it was almost on par to meetings that included Kureo Mado, neither were pleasant to deal with but it was all part of the job.

With this little fiasco finally over with, I headed for the comfort of my apartment and "conveniently" forgot to mention running into the ghoul that I was tracking down. She had given me a second chance at life, so giving her another days head start was like wiping my slate clean of all debts and therefore getting rid of any possibility of one of us giving the other a handicap because of it.

Not that she would need a handicap anyway, she could easily wipe the floor with me. I needed to train.

Little did I know that my shudder was not caused by my train of thoughts, but rather it was because of an extra set of eyes watching my departure. Her eyes lit up with the anticipation of things to come. Things were moving too slowly, and she would like nothing better than to up the ante.

* * *

What confused me presently was how she said she would "see me later", but she hasn't run into me yet. Or at least, not that I can recall. But since I had seen her after visiting the small little café, I wandered there more frequently now. My now scheduled routine of coming in at noon every couple of days seemed to almost bring the waitress Touka to visible frustration. She made it seem like she was happy to see me, but I thought otherwise, if my recollection served me right from overhearing her conversation with one young woman named Toki.

I sat quietly in my seat, scribbling down notes, again. Sitting at the side of my seat was the briefcase for my Quinque; personally I didn't want Ellis to have a reason to punch me in the gut again so I brought it with me. For undercover work, it felt too conspicuous bringing it with me everywhere. My Quinque was in the shape of a katana, it was a mass produced weapon so there wasn't anything too unique about it. I would rather have it along my side making it easier to get to, but that would be even more obvious, and might even get me into trouble with the local law enforcement. Not a priority.

So I elected to just bring it along in the briefcase, no matter how conspicuous it was.

Most times while at the café I found myself watching some of the customers as they came and went, one specific beauty caught my eye. According to my routine visits, this woman was also a regular; she came in about twice every week ordering the same bland cup of coffee. It always struck me as fascinating when I watched people drink straight black coffee, now I had tried it once, but couldn't get past the bitter taste. I didn't necessarily have a taste for sweets; nonetheless having a little bit to accompany my coffee with added flavor was a fabulous idea.

Aforementioned woman of my particular interest had dark ebony tresses; it fell just around her chin while some of the hair on the back of her head was shaved. She also wore knee high boots to accent the leather shirt she wore; I think it was a shirt, it was either that, or some strange vest. Her style of choice was peculiar, but I have seen much stranger things before so it wasn't too bad. After flashing a flirtatious smile at Enji -one of the waiters- she took a seat at the counter.

As per usual, she had her cup of coffee while surveying the customers and striking up random conversation with the employees. Something about her seemed familiar, as if I had seen her face before. For the longest time I sat deep in thought over it, and until I figured it out it would drive me up the wall. Kind of like having a particular line from a song stuck in your head, but can't remember what it's from so you keep repeating it over and over until you can recall the name of the song.

And then it hit me, I'd remember eyes like that anywhere, I had bumped into her at the hotel the other day. Her hair was styled differently, but luckily her jade colored eyes gave her away. She flirted easily with the man sitting to her left, flashing her dangerously beautiful eyes at him; the gentleman was practically putty in her hands.

I shook my head, staring too much would be bordering on creepy stalker-ish behavior, and I did /not/ want to be branded as a creep by the employees.

Her flirting soon ended, though. Much to my surprise, when one person entered the café, the woman appeared repulsed at his very presence, sneering with an obvious curl to her red lips. The man wore a pair of baggy pants, a loose top, some type of hat and sunglasses. Along with him he carried a bag, carrying who knows what. Another thing I noted about him, was that his arms were covered in tattoos. One or two seemed to be acceptable, but the amount he had was over the top.

With my attention moved back towards the woman, she hastily paid for her drink, saying goodbye to the man beside her, she then slid off the bar seat and briskly walked out of the café. She even went so far as to brush her shoulder against the side of his arm, and uttering something in a low enough voice to be heard by the gentleman, but not the surrounding people.

Also, surprisingly enough, the boy that was involved in that terrible accident began working at this very café. This Ken Kaneki seemed to be a bit of an introvert, glancing around nervously at people when they came in, sometimes stuttering a welcome. Maybe he just started working here, or he might even have been before his accident. I had thought to ask him, and then I figured it might be too soon to ask him about something so traumatic.

In a split second I decided to follow, her, with her also being a regular customer it was completely possible she might have known about recent ghoul activities. I reached for my wallet, pulled out the exact amount, and then enough for a tip before grabbing my things and leaving as well.

When I exited, I thought I had seen her take off to the left, so to the left I went. My intentions were entirely pure, I just wanted to apologize for my clumsiness, and then maybe ask her if she wanted to have coffee with me some time. There was nothing wrong with that.

But the further I walked down the street, the less I could tell where she had wandered off. Stopping, I sighed loudly as my shoulders slackened, bending my head down. Apparently I would have a better chance of getting her attention back at the café when she came back. Which would mean that I needed to wait until I saw her again, drat!

So now I turned back, heading in the correct direction that I should be heading at this time to meet up with my squad. Ever since the ghoul incident, they acted rather miffed by me leaving them out of all the fun, and because of that they demanded sessions when we would all investigate together.

"Excuse me, sir" a silky voice called. "Were you looking for something?"

Perking my head up I turned around to face the inquisitive citizen; and there she stood, big round green eyes staring right into mine, her short hair fluttered around in the light breeze.

My mouth felt dry as I tried to formulate words to make a proper sentence, I had been distracted when I ran into her at the hotel, but up close the sun seemed to illuminate her pale skin that was in complete contrast to the raven hair accenting her face. Her eyes were a perfect mix of deep green with a light splash of brown towards her pupil, the edges dashed with a tinted blue. In summary she was absolutely mesmerizing.

"Uh, um-" I swallowed. My eyes danced around, trying to find something to stare at as I increasingly became more nervous as she leaned towards me, concern written all over he face.

"Sir?"

Gosh, Daiki, pull yourself together. "I'm sorry, um," I paused, unsure of how to continue. "I was actually looking for you, if you'd believe it." Then added as an afterthought, "I'm not a creep, I swear!"

She giggled, raising a hand to cover her mouth. "Why? If I may ask."

"I don't know if you remember, but we ran into each other a few weeks ago at the Tokyo Grand Hotel." Quite literally. I scratched the back of my head nervously, if that didn't sound creepy, I don't know what would.

Her face lit up as she smiled at me. "Now that you mention it, I do recognize you." She stepped closer, engaging in a less formal conversation. "Is there anything I can help you with, Mr.?"

"Oh, I'm Daiki Hamasaki, but you can call me Daiki."

"My name is Iwa Hara. It's a pleasure to meet you, Daiki."

We stared at each other for a few seconds, until I broke eye contact to look at my watch, I needed to leave soon or else my squad members would get mad at me again. "I have to go meet up with some friends, soon. But as an apology for that time, would you like to have coffee with me some time? My treat."

"I would love to," Iwa giggled again.

Her voice was so melodious; I could feel my heart beating wildly in my chest. "Great, then I'll see you this coming Wednesday, at Anteiku?"

"That sounds great, I'll see you then. Bye, Daiki." She waved her hand lightly at me before turning around and walking away.

After I was sure she was out of earshot, I gasped, taking in air as I tried to regain control of myself, clutching at the fabric over my chest. Hoping to myself, and whatever higher power there was that she couldn't hear my hearts erratic beating. Talking to people was somewhat hard, but talking to beautiful women always made it much worse.

My reflections over what just happened were broken as I heard the sound of my phone ringing, even worse than talking in public was talking on the phone. My eyes narrowed as I reached into my pocket to grab out the infernal device, texting was always much easier and less nerve wrecking.

"Hello?" I drawled out, trying my best to hide my distaste of having to answer it.

The voice that responded to be happened to be that of Elias, and after giving a snarky response he told me of a meeting that my squad was required to attend, right now. I sighed in resignation, it was about time I was forced to attend another one of them, and this time it seemed that there would be much more involved than trivial investigations.

* * *

Upon entering the meeting room, I noticed that the other members of my squad were present already, each of them wearing similar expressions of boredom and uneasiness. If this weren't such a familiar occurrence I would have made fun of them, most likely saying they looked constipated and to lighten up. But I was soon ushered into my seat by the man heading our new assignment. Once again, I was faced with dealing with my mentor of sorts, First Class Kenji Uchida.

Having him heading up this meeting did calm my currently frayed nerves, and he probably figured putting his hand into this case again would do favors for both himself, and for my squad. Although in the back on my mind I did question his motives, everyone had them. My gaze shifted around the room before landing on Uchida, he was waiting for everyone to pay attention before speaking.

"An informant has come forward with suspicious ghoul related activity," He began, clacking sheets of paper on the desk to realign them. "And we may have a lead to the Black Widow, among others."

"How can we be sure that this information is correct?" Ellis spoke up.

"We have worked with this informant before, and her information seems to be quite spot on. Currently we have no reasons to doubt her leads." Uchida quipped. His eyes scanning those present for any sort of reaction, personally he was just begging for someone to reject his answer.

Taking my chance during the lull of the conversation, I spoke, "So if we can confirm the information is solid, what is our plan in dealing with them?"

"I'm glad you asked, Rank 1 Investigator. Our squads will work in collaboration with each other in this gambit, there should only be low level ghouls along with the Black Widow. Theoretically, taking them on shouldn't be too much of a hassle if we deal with the weaker ones first. That way we can focus on our intended target, and hopefully either subdue her, or eliminate her. Whichever one comes first." He took a pause to make sure everyone was on the same page.

He then looked to one of the members of his squad before he continued. "Investigator Inaba, will be handing out files for this mission. As you will note, we will be engaging the ghouls at one of the abandoned facilities out of town. It is imperative that we work in reliance with one another, so that we don't have unnecessary losses. This goes specifically for your squad, Hamasaki. You kids have guts, but you need more than that when actually facing ghouls. You have been unnaturally lucky in that regard, but don't take it for granted, doing so will get you killed."

"In any regard, I would like you all to be familiar with the information by the time of execution. On the day of we will be finalizing our plans, and from there we attack. Be prepared, be on your guard, and be ready by Wednesday." Kenji stood. "You are all dismissed, except for you Daiki, I would like to speak with you for a moment."

The twins sniggered at his closing remark, before they all stood up and left the room.

I sighed, propping an elbow up on the table and resting my head on my hand. I knew what he was going to say, and there was no way I could stop him, he wouldn't listen to me anyway. I lazily watched him as he walked over to where I sat.

"Daiki, while you are a Rank 1 investigator, you have proven yourself before. Not only to myself, but also to those above me, and you have talent that has plenty of room to grow. Before I leave, there's one piece of advice I want to give you; harden yourself. Your half-assed attitude towards ghouls is dangerous, you keep teetering on this fence and sooner or later you're going to wind up dead."

"That's some solid advice there, I'll keep it in mind." I got up from my seat, locking gazes with him momentarily before I broke it off.

"Whether you're right in your opinion of ghouls, or not. If others know how you think they will eat you alive. Figuratively speaking, and I won't be able to do anything to stop it."

"I know, I know. I'll keep it to myself. You don't have to be so worried for me, sir. I'll manage."

"I don't want you to die during this mission, Daiki." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "You need to focus on survival, there won't be any time for a ghoul to hear out your reasoning during battle. They would kill you first, and you know it."

"I'll keep my wits about me, you can count on that, sir."

"Good answer, Daiki. You may go."

"Thank you, sir." Flashing a smile at him, I quickly turned around to leave.

Walking away from that room felt like more pressure was added onto my back. It was ridiculous at how fast his words could make me nervous, whatever feelings of unease I had mere moments before was intensified. Come Wednesday, being one step behind the Black Widow will be gone, and it would be my first actual fight against her.

I didn't know how good the others would be at fighting, but the Black Widow wasn't a rank s ghoul for no reason. Hopefully though, with the additional five Investigators, our chances of winning were slightly higher than before. Now all I had to get through was the weekend before preparing for the mission on Wednesday, and then-

I stopped suddenly, a hand flying up to meet my face. I was supposed to have coffee with Iwa on Wednesday, ugh, why me?


End file.
